Interpreting provenance relations from sandstone detrital modes, southern Italy foreland region: Stratigraphic record of the Miocene tectonic evolution

Abstract

The Southern Italy orogen preserves deep-marine turbitic clastic wedges that record the key tectonic events during structural growing over the Adria margin. The regional tectonic transition from thick-skinned Calabrian accretion and deformation (during Late Paleogene-to-middle Miocene) to thin-skinned Southern Apennines thrusting (since early-middle Miocene) is recorded by diverse contrasting petrofacies in uppermost Paleogene and Miocene sandstones of dominantly turbiditie deposits. Most of these sandstones reflect in time quartzolithic and quartzofeldspathic and arkosic petrofacies derived from growing and unroofing Calabrian terranes. Quartzose petrofacies mainly indicate provenance from cratonal African margin, during Langhian, and/or from lowland internal domains before its deformation, during the Cretaceous to Paleogene. Volcaniclastic sandstone petrofacies also testify active volcanism during the Late Paleogene to early Miocene. These variable compositions indicate strong palaeogeographic constraints for the central-western Mediterranean, during the Neogene, reflecting provenance relationships from differentiate source rocks. These include interplays between ophiolitiferous, uplifted continental shallow to deep crust terranes, volcanic and sedimentary (mostly carbonate) source rocks. Sandstone detrital modes provide an example of the close relations between clastic compositions and growing orogen in southern Italy and may contribute to unravel the geodynamic history of other major orogens.